We almost made CNN

Today we visited the "City of David" site and got to wade through Hezekiah's tunnel. We stopped to have lunch at the end of the tunnel and met the director of one of the archaeological digs taking place right near the tunnel. He proudly announced to us that they had just found a jar of well preserved gold coins from the Byzantine time period. We walked by their excavation site on our way home. Then we came home and found CNN.com's article. So we feel pretty famous, for walking past such a famous site.

In front of the site of the Pool of Siloam (end of Hezekiah's tunnel)

Hezekiah's tunnel was the tunnel dug underneath the city of Jerusalem during 700 B.C. It was designed to provide water to Jerusalem from the Gihon Spring, which would allow Jerusalem to survive much longer during a siege. We got to traverse Hezekiah's tunnel today. We sloshed through water for 533 meters of the tunnel with a few casualties of bumps and bruises to the head and near heart attacks when we turned out the lights and Jordan and Bryce launched attacks on the rest of us, unsuspecting victims.

Here's a few pics of Hezekiah's tunnel.

Thanks to Mom (and Dad) for keeping the babies. And to Krista and Bryce for posing.

Bethlehem and the West Bank

Today, armed with our passports, we took a taxi into the West Bank to spend several hours in Bethlehem. The city was full of Palestinians who were anxious to give us "great discount" on their world-famous olive wood nativity scenes, ornaments, and other nativity decor. They have been hit hard by the effects of the recession in the United States, as the number of tourists has decreased significantly.

We began by touring the Church of the Nativity--the cathedral, jointly owned by three churches, that was built over the site of Jesus' birth.

Pictured below is the place believed to be the literal spot where Jesus was born. So, of course, we had to put our newborns down there. I don't think the priest was very impressed.

This is a preserved portion of the mosaic floor from the Byzantine (376 A.D.ish) church of the nativity.

Lunch at a yummy shawarma place. Lamb on the left, chicken on the right.

Jimmy invited us to tour his olive wood factory in Bethlehem. Here is one of the big piles of olive wood set outside to dry. The wood has to dry for 3-7 years before being carved.

Here is a machine that carves 6 identical figures at once. The worker is just tracing over an already carved figure. This movement is reproduced by six other blades farther down the machine which produce 6 carved figures.


Here is a picture of the non-OSHA approved "factory" where men (with no earplugs) were smoking while they carved and sanded wood figures with huge piles of sawdust at their feet

Very large figures made from a single piece of olive wood are difficult to come by, since the olive tree branches are not very large in diameter. Here are Richard and Dad holding very large statues, which would be very expensive.

Kim drinking from the Holy Olive Wood Grail. Don't worry, it's not wine.

A view of the Bethlehem from one of its hills

Doling out the fruit snacks

Krista's getting good at nursing on the run!

Becca met a funny old lady who predicted the gender of her baby. Read here for more of the hilarious details.

Today Richard and Bryce wore the baby slings. The weather was a little cool, so Amy and Lily spent most of the day in the sling under the boys' jackets, with only their heads peeking out. They attracted so much attention. One man pointed happily at Richard, "Baby! Very good!" It was fun to watch the faces of the Palestinians break into huge grins as they noticed the boys and babies. I think it's safe to say they haven't seen two Baby Bjorns in one place at the same time.

Mom suggested that perhaps the part that amazed the Palestinians the most was that it was the boys that were helping with the babies. Her Palestinian visiting teaching companion lives in the West Bank and said she hoped to not marry a Palestinian man because they don't help in the home. Here is one Palestinian woman who stopped to take a picture of the boys and babies with her cell phone. It was fun to be noticed and stared at for something other than our skin color.

Or our tongues sticking out.

Happy family

Now if we could just get Danielle here...(she should be in NY now, and here by tomorrow afternoon. Let's hope her try #3 is more successful than the other two).

A few Americans in Jerusalem

This morning Dad played tour guide and showed us some of Jerusalem's sites.

Our short-lived taxi ride followed by a lot of walking around hilly Jerusalem

An amazing mosaic at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Family von Trapp, I mean, von Wilson, on the way to see an olive wood shop

One of the most popular olive wood stores for Mormons in Jerusalem, run by Jimmy.

The carvings were amazing. Some were as much as $22,000 (a model of Herod's temple). He also showed us extremely old coins with stamps of Ceasar and Alexander the Great.

The baby carriers

The Dome of the Rock
(Notice the thousands of ashuaries (boxes for bones of deceased) in front. Apparently these can cost as much as $50,000 to purchase. Also notice the funeral ceremony going on in the bottom left corner with the Hasidic Jews.)

(Becca caught this picture of someone sneaking out a trap door!)

The Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem
(the towers with green domes are minarets, which loudly play the prayer calls multiple times a day)

A tired group heading home with fresh pitas, strawberries and wood carvings

Just because they're cute. And because there's a tiny line of Hebrew in the background.

A few Americans in Paris

Becca and Jordan at the Cathedral of Notre Dame

Richard after a tasty French dinner of chicken gizzard salad

Krista, Bryce and Amy in a tiny elevator

The Eiffel Tower (in blue and flashing lights)

Our Resident Poet

Kim's been waxing poetic over here. And here. (Lily is anxiously waiting to see if Auntie Kim will write a poem about her, too.)

One month older and balder too

I can't remember if it was Mom or Grandmother that commented on how newborns always look so wise. Whether Lily looks wise or not in this picture is debatable, but she certainly does look a little like an old man, don't you think? I am totally in love with her, and therefore, must point out her dimple on her left cheek (right side of the picture). And please ignore the spit up. Which she did right after I turned the camera on. Of course.

And in case you were wondering, she is bald. Sort of. Half bald, that is. I think I need to get bigger bows. Much, much bigger.

Countdown to Jerusalem vacation!

Amy's blessing day

Today was Amy's blessing day. She looked beautiful and behaved beautifully. Bryce gave her a very nice blessing, and a very nice name. Amy Linda Nielsen (spelled with an 'e').

And how about this photogenic family?

A close up of the star. (Is that the Wuxi finger hold?)Following the luncheon, baby blessing, and two hours with the Sunbeams, the Nielsen family took a much deserved nap. And the rest of us ate all their Thanksgiving leftovers. Congratulations, Krista and Bryce, on such a cute baby.